The International Step by Step Association (ISSA) is an international website and one that has an amazing wealth of resources on it. It focuses on elevating the importance of awareness of children’s early childhood development in all countries, promoting high quality and diverse work force in services for children, and strengthening early childhood systems to provide quality, equitable, and integrated services for all children. They also are are an international learning community powered by the leading early childhood experts in Europe and Central Asia that unites and supports professionals and partners to deliver high-quality early years services equitably. The ISSA challenges existing knowledge and practice and co-construct new approaches and models (The International Step by Step Association, n.d.)
One of the issues that caught my eye was a link to an article on empowering Romani women in Hungary. The REYN, or Romani Early Years Network, has many objectives, but one of their main ones is to increase diversity in the workforce, especially that of young children. In order to do this, they have been coaching five Romani women how to be caregivers in six months, and have found that Romani children’s inclusion has been gaining more support with the greater participation of Romani parents at schools and public events offered. Young Romani and Traveller children are often denied the right to quality Early Childhood Development (ECD). Including education and care services, adequate nutrition as well as stimulating and protective environments. REYN advocates with local-, regional-, national- and European wide for access to Early Childhood Development services that can provide them with equal and quality developmental opportunities to unlock their potential and change their lives ( (REYN Reconnected and Strategized on the Future Actions, 2019)
I loved reading about this, and clicked on more articles relating to the REYN with similar topics and issues to what we are learning about this week. With all of the rich resources in the United States we are able to provide more funding and organizations that help children of all ethnicity and cultures feel more included in our school systems, yet overseas, there is a lack of quality in early childhood services for Romani children in Europe (REYN Reconnected and Strategized on the Future Actions, 2019). It discussed how by creating an increase in parent awareness and collaboration, children will become more involved in their learning.
Resources
REYN Reconnected and Strategized on the Future Actions. (October 12, 2019) Retrieved from https://www.issa.nl/content/reyn-reconnected-and-strategized-future-actions
Empowering Women Romani Women in Hungary. (April 11, 2019) Retreived from https://www.issa.nl/content/empowering-romani-women-hungary
The International Step by Step Association. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.issa.nl/
Brittany's Blog: Teaching with Ms. Pyle 
The information you presented was very informative. I am going to look into this further because I like the idea of bringing diversity into the work place.
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I really enjoyed reading your post about this site. I could feel your excitement towards it, and I look forward to exploring it for myself.
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Hello Brittany,
I really enjoyed reading about the website you chose. I am all for any organization that is aimed towards improving the lives of young children and their families, and I think that this was a great one!
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Brittany,
Thank you for that insightful resource, Empowering Women is a much needed cause and should be incorporated all over the world where it does not infringe on customs and cultures.
Great Read!
Cindy
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I enjoyed your post and your story a lot of good information.
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Oh wow, what a great resource. It will be interesting to see the outcome of the 5 women who are being coached and such a great asset to have diversity among educators. I will definitely be following and researching this source. Thank you for sharing.
Shanon
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Hey Brittany.
All I can say is wow. This post was simply amazing. I’m going to look over this site myself. I want to learn more about this concept. It is simply amazing how we all are learning from one another. As they say, you learn something new each and everyday. And this is amazing especially with the 5 women. I would love to find out what their outcome is going to be. I’m going to further research this to see if it tells their outcome. Thank you for sharing.
“Amazing Post”!!!
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